notwithstanding the radical taliban and other elements. one might questions -- and i am sure you will talk about that and the sustainability of efforts. we invested heavily as americans to achieve the goal to build up afghan petitions since 2002. congress has appropriated $60 billion for relief and reconstruction and afghanistan. the great majority of which has been channeled through private contractors. now we know from bosnia and iraq that a reduction in troop levels does not mean a drop in contract activities. in fact, there has been an increase. in fact, there is a reliance to perform logistical roles. essentially, the contractor presence will also decrease as we move our support of large scale -- off-budget spending to more direct budget aide to the afghan government directly. the strategy must focus now, more than ever, to assure afghans are able to sustain what we helped to build. we must consider, not only, how many additional schools to construct but also whether afghanistan will have teachers and medical professionals to sustain